Ex-minister Clark's plea to vacate federal sentence rejected

Judge upholds conviction for mail fraud, money laundering

A former Lubbock minister serving nearly 20 years for bilking the government out of funds intended for needy children lost a bid Friday to have his sentence reduced or overturned.

U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings denied James Cornell Clark’s request to vacate or reduce the sentence, ruling that many of the issues listed in his motion should have been argued in appellate court.

Clark, a former Methodist church minister, was convicted in 2008 on 41 counts of mail fraud, money laundering and related offenses in connection with stealing more than $586,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Summer Food Program and diverting it to personal use.

In a separate case, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for importing a Kenyan woman to the United States for an immoral purpose.

He filed the petition without an attorney, according to court files.

In the document, Clark contended his conviction was a result of judicial and prosecutorial misconduct, and ineffective legal representation at trial and during his appeal. He also claimed pretrial publicity violated his due process rights.

The program provides summer meals for children who qualify during the school year for the federal school breakfast-lunch program.

While a minister at Mount Vernon United Methodist Church, Clark misrepresented the church as a non-profit sponsor for the program, and laundered the money through bogus non-profit groups to divert it to personal use.